AbsentEase
Kansas sick leave law & call-off rules
Kansas requires no sick leave and no breaks — its teeth are in the exit paperwork: willful failure to pay wages due, including policy-promised PTO, draws a penalty that builds at 1% a day, up to 100% of the unpaid amount. Here is what applies in 2026.
Kansas at a glance
| Paid sick leave mandate | None — local mandates preempted since 2013 |
|---|---|
| Willful nonpayment penalty | 1% of the unpaid wages per day (from the eighth day after they were due, Sundays and legal holidays excluded) until it equals the wages — up to 100%, on top of the wages themselves |
| Voting leave | Up to 2 consecutive hours paid — not during the meal period |
| PTO at termination | Policy controls; KDOL enforces the written policy, silence reads against the employer |
| Final paycheck deadline | Next regular payday, fired or quit |
| Employment relationship | At-will; public-policy and handbook exceptions |
| Meal & rest breaks | None for adults |
Is paid sick leave required in Kansas?
No. Kansas has no sick leave requirement, and K.S.A. 12-16,130 has preempted local benefit mandates since 2013. Your written policy plus the federal floor governs.
The federal floor that still applies
FMLA
Employers with 50+ employees within 75 miles must give eligible employees (12+ months tenure, 1,250+ hours in the past year) up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for a serious health condition — their own or a close family member's. FMLA-protected absences can't accrue attendance points, and a call-off that mentions an ongoing condition can be notice enough to trigger your FMLA obligations, even if the employee never says "FMLA."
ADA
For employers with 15+ employees, the ADA can require modified attendance expectations or unpaid leave as a reasonable accommodation for a disability. An attendance policy applied "no exceptions" is exactly the kind that loses ADA cases — build an accommodation carve-out into the policy itself.
FLSA overtime and attendance bonuses
A cash bonus promised in advance for good attendance counts as wages under federal overtime law. It has to be added into the regular rate for the weeks it covers, so any of those weeks over 40 hours owes extra overtime on the bonus, usually recalculated after the bonus is paid. State overtime law can add to this, but can't go below it. See how attendance bonuses change overtime pay.
Call-offs, no-call no-shows, and firing in Kansas
Kansas is at-will with the usual public-policy carve-outs (workers' comp retaliation, whistleblowing) and handbook implied-contract risk. Attendance enforcement is broad; the discipline that matters most is procedural — a termination's final check must include everything the written policy promises, because the Kansas Department of Labor enforces the policy as written and willful shortfalls accrue a 1%-a-day penalty that can reach 100% of the amount owed. A call-off hotline or text-based call-off system supplies the absence history that makes the underlying termination defensible.
After a no call, no show termination in Kansas
| Does Kansas law define job abandonment? | No statute or regulation defines job abandonment or sets a consecutive-days threshold, but the UI statute addresses the ingredients: 'failure to return to work after expiration of approved personal or medical leave ... shall be considered a voluntary resignation' (K.S.A. 44-706(a)), and 'failure of the employee to notify the employer of an absence ... shall be considered prima facie evidence of a violation of a duty or obligation reasonably owed the employer', i.e., misconduct (K.S.A. 44-706(b)(2)(A)). (K.S.A. 44-706(a); K.S.A. 44-706(b)(1), (b)(2)(A)-(B)) |
|---|---|
| Final paycheck if you treat it as a discharge | Whenever an employer discharges an employee, earned wages must be paid not later than the next regular payday on which the employee would have been paid if still employed (per K.S.A. 44-314), through regular pay channels or by mail postmarked within that deadline if the employee requests. Penalty for willful nonpayment: 1% of the unpaid wages per day (excluding Sundays and legal holidays) after the eighth day past the due date, or 100% of the unpaid wages, whichever is less. (K.S.A. 44-315(a); penalty K.S.A. 44-315(b)) |
| Final paycheck if you treat it as a resignation | Same rule: § 44-315(a) covers 'whenever an employee quits or resigns' in the same sentence as discharge, with no notice distinction, so a quit with or without notice is due by the next regular payday. (K.S.A. 44-315(a)) |
| Accrued PTO at separation | No state requirement; owed only if your written policy promises it. 'Wages' means compensation determined on a time, task, piece, commission 'or other basis' (K.S.A. 44-313(c)), and the regulation defines 'or other basis' to include all agreed compensation, including fringe benefits, 'for which the conditions required for entitlement, eligibility, accrual or earning have been met', and makes conditions subsequent that forfeit such earned wages 'ineffective and unenforceable' (K.A.R. 49-20-1(d)); the employer's policy therefore sets the conditions for earning vacation (the Kansas Department of Labor's FAQ states payout is owed only if the employer has a policy or practice of paying unused vacation), but vacation already earned under that policy cannot be forfeited. (K.S.A. 44-313(c); K.A.R. 49-20-1(d)) |
| Unemployment claims | Leaving work voluntarily without good cause attributable to the work or employer disqualifies until the claimant earns three times the weekly benefit amount (§ 44-706(a)); discharge for misconduct disqualifies on the same terms, and misconduct includes violating the employer's reasonable attendance expectations if the employee was absent or tardy without good cause, knew the expectation, and was notified that future absence or tardiness may or will result in discharge (§ 44-706(b)(1), (b)(2)(B)). |
If a state agency later treats a "resignation" as a discharge, the discharge deadline governs, so pay by the earlier of the two when in doubt. Document each step with the no call, no show write-up and termination letter templates, which fill in Kansas's final-pay rule.
Write a no call, no show policy that fits Kansas
Start from our no call, no show policy guide and free template, or let the generator turn nine quick questions into a signature-ready policy with Kansas already selected so the protected-leave section covers the federal FMLA and ADA rules that still apply here.
PTO payout and final paychecks
| Scenario | Rule | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Employee is fired or laid off | Next regular payday | K.S.A. 44-315 |
| Employee quits | Same — next regular payday | K.S.A. 44-315 |
| Unused vacation / PTO | Policy controls — use-it-or-lose-it and no-payout clauses are lawful if communicated; silence tends to be read against the employer | KDOL guidance |
| Willful nonpayment | Penalty of 1% of the unpaid wages per day, starting the eighth day after the wages were due (Sundays and legal holidays excluded), until it equals the unpaid wages — a 100% ceiling; willful failure to pay is required | K.S.A. 44-315(b) |
The penalty clock — 1% a day until the bill doubles — makes final-check completeness the Kansas priority — include whatever the policy promises, the first time. See how PTO accrual works.
Leave Kansas employers must (and must not) provide
| Leave type | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Voting | Yes — paid | Up to 2 consecutive hours while polls are open, less any non-working poll hours; employer sets the time but not during lunch |
| Jury duty | Yes — unpaid | Job-protected (K.S.A. 43-173) |
| Military | Yes | USERRA (federal) plus Kansas National Guard protections |
| Sick leave | No | Whatever your written policy provides |
| Meal & rest breaks | No | None for adults |
The Kansas employer's attendance playbook
- Put it in writing. A written policy — call-off deadline and channel, points or steps, the no-call no-show rule, and carve-outs for legally protected absences — is what makes discipline defensible. Our attendance policy guide walks through it.
- Give call-offs one channel. "Tell whoever answers" is how records get lost. One number every employee texts or calls makes the record automatic.
- Log everything with timestamps. Unemployment hearings and discrimination charges are won on contemporaneous records, not recollections.
- Enforce consistently. Uneven enforcement converts a lawful termination into a discrimination claim.
- Screen call-offs for protected reasons before applying points — sickness that could be FMLA/ADA territory gets a different track than an overslept alarm.
Comparing states? See all published guides on the state sick leave laws hub.